Stevens Family Christmas Letter 2008

Stevens Family Newsletter Christmas 2008
How does the year go by so fast? I am pretty sure we just mailed last years letter the other day!!

Jeff is still working in social services, but has a new position at a new place. He is now working for an agency, Children’s Home Society, as a Mental Health Counselor, and his clients are now slightly younger than the 60+ crowd he use to associate with. He is still working on his Master’s Degree in Social Work. He is in his 2nd year now, and has just finished the 1st quarter of that. He is looking forward to being half done, so he can start counting down quarters. He is still the Ward Clerk and enjoys that calling. He tries to fit in singing in the ward choir, to get his love of singing into his busy schedule, when Lisa allows. His Aunt Dorothy passed away this year, and we were able to go to Oregon to be there for the memorial. It was great being together with so much of the family that we rarely see.

Lisa is still on the substitute list for school district this year, but not receiving as many calls as last year. She is currently one of two Achievement Day Leaders for the 8-11 year old girls. She is enjoying that pretty well. On 12/1/08 she lost her
Grandma Burt. We are all very sad that she is gone. Till we meet again Bestemor!!

We were able to go to Utah for the funeral, and see all of Lisa’s cousins and family.


Jolyn is 13 years old and in the 8th grade. Now at 5 feet 6 inches, she is growing so much this year. She is doing really well this year, last quarter she received 6 A’s & 1 B+. She is in band, playing the bass clarinet again. She has made a decision to play basketball for the 2nd year at school. She (Me and my LONG legs!) is also going to do track. She played her very first season of soccer this past fall, and seemed to enjoy that, and is going to do it again next season.


Jalani is in the 4th grade, age 9. She played soccer last fall, and is currently playing a quick season of indoor soccer for the 1st time, not sure she likes it as well, though. She has created numerous cute little projects. (For example, she made us a card for our anniversary, and she also created a bride & groom out of pop cans). She comes up with ideas out of the blue or sometimes from things she has made in class at school. She loves to read, and recently read the 4 books in the series of The Land of Elyon. She is in strings this year, and is playing the violin.

We had some exciting events that took place in our family this year: Lisa & the girls went to Utah this summer for about 3 weeks or so, and during that time they were able to go to St. George and see Les Miserables. Kory & Kaari came and spent 3 weeks with us this summer, we had a great time. Over Labor Day weekend we went camping as a family, and really enjoyed that.
This fall Lani’s soccer team had an undefeated season, under Coach Jeff. We had Thanksgiving at home this year, and Grandma Walle came to be with us. It was Lisa’s first time ever cooking a turkey and pumpkin pie. All the food turned out delicious. We had some friends and the missionaries over to help eat it all. (There was lots!! J)
Our family is extremely blessed by our Father in Heaven and for this we are grateful. We hope this letter finds each of you well and knowing that you are thought of and we pray that you will find peace & happiness this coming year 2009!!

The Stevens Family

In Loving Memory of my Grandma (Bestemor)!! :)

Esther Christiansen Burt born 10 January 1923, passed away 01 December 2008.

Last night my beautiful grandma, Esther C. Burt, passed away peacefully at home in her bed.
I will miss all the fun times we have had together, Grandma. You are the best!! Thanks for your great examples of love and service. You did so much, for so many!!
I love you and know I will see you again some day.

Kassaskuff vi møtes igjen!! Meg Bestemor!

(Thanks to Zach for the picture)
ICH LIEBE DICH, MEINE OMA!!

17 years!!

Yesterday, Sunday, November 30th. Jeff & I celebrated 17 years of wedded bliss together. (This weekend was a little crazy with Jeff trying to get a project finished for school, so we are postponing our date till this weekend or next.)

The girls each did something nice for us, Jolyn made us a little lunch snack after we got home from church, Lani created a card which I will share below and made a bride and groom out of pop cans, she is very creative.
This is the front of the card:

This is the left side on the inside:

This is the right side on the inside:

And finally the back of the card:

How talented is she?? So creative!!! Yes, I am bragging, I'm a Mom, it's my job!! :-)

We ate Meatloaf, baked potatoes, and green beans, and for dessert another raspberry cheesecake. It all was great!! I love to cook, so I chose to make the dinner and we drank some Sparkling apple cider as part of dinner for celebrating.
After dinner we did dishes, ate our dessert, watched our wedding and receptions video. That was fun to see everyone and how they were 17 years ago. One thing that really struck me, was my grandpa, he could stand up straight and looked so good. It makes me sad to see him become more and more hunched over. :-(
It was fun to watch and laugh at ourselves and our great big huge glasses.
I am very grateful to have Jeff as my husband, best friend, and more!! He is the greatest gift I have been given. Thanks to my Heavenly Father for sending him to Montana and making sure we got together!!
Happy Anniversary, Jeff!!! :-)

Thanksgiving

Well, better late than never!! right?? Here is the post you have all been waiting for.
I cooked my first turkey and it turned out BEAUTIFUL!! Unfortunately for you, you will have to wait till I develop my film, and scan the picture into the computer and add it to this blog, before you can see how beautiful it was. I also made my first pumpkin pie, homemade crust and all. Same goes for the picture of this!! :-)
It all turned out so well, I was very pleased. We had our turkey, homemade stuffing (just like mom makes), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes (not yams), green bean casserole, glazed carrots, olives, homemade rolls, and then for dessert the pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and a raspberry cheesecake. YUMMY!!! :-)

We had Jeff's mom, Walle, here plus our missionaries, Elder Killpack, and Elder Reynolds, Rose Jones and 3 of her children, Elliott, Nico, and Lexi. It was great!!
After dinner and before dessert, we cleared off the table, and (the missionaries had already left by this point as they had a second dinner at 5 pm,) the remaining adults played some chicken foot, then a game of pinochle. (yes, I am learning to play)
It was wonderful and we all enjoyed ourselves. Later we broke out the pie, and ate up. It was delicious!! (If you ask Lani, she will say the cheesecake was best, of course, that is the only one she would eat. ;-) )
I must admit that cooking a turkey is not as hard as I dreamed it to be, as long as it is defrosted and you take out the icky parts, and cover it with foil, you are good to go. I found a recipe for basting from Campbell's that used Chicken stock (broth), lemon juice and some spices. It turned out nice.
Anyhow, enough turkey talk.
Well, one more thing. Then on Saturday,Jeff's dad and his wife, Vi, and our niece, Robin, came over for the day from Yakima. I made a turkey pot pie and it was delicious. We had gone to Leavenworth and checked out the Christkindl Markey (Christmas Market) earlier in the day, and then came home and ate and visited and then they left and drove home to Yakima.

I guess that is all we need to say about that!! :-)I will try and get my pics developed soon.

Let the Preparations begin.... and RPE

I am excited today to start my Thanksgiving Day preparations. I already have the turkey in the fridge to thaw, hoping that is working. :-)
I am going to make dough for the rolls and cook those today, and also make my pumpkin pie. I have the pie crust made and in the fridge, so just have to make the filling and cook it all together. Let's pray it works. ;-)
I will make my banana cream pie, green bean casserole, & start the cranberry salad tomorrow. Then on Thurs. cook the turkey with the stuffing, cook the carrots and glaze them, cook the green bean casserole,and finish the cranberry salad. Ta-da Thanksgiving day meal is served. Voila!!!! :-) Add a glass of sparkling apple cider and it makes a classic meal thru and thru. :-)
I am excited to eat what I make, and hope it all tastes very delicious.

Now you are all probably wondering what RPE stands for - Well, it is an orthodontic term for rapid Pallette expander, to which Jolyn will be receiving in just about 2 hours from now. She is not excited to have it done 2 days before Thanksgiving, but when I asked her if she would like me to change the appt., she said No, let's just get it over with. :-) Silly girl!!


I think Jolyn will be only eating applesauce, yogurt, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and any other soft food she can find for awhile. My poor little girl.:-(
Happy Thanksgiving to all. May we each remember the things we are grateful for on that day and always!!

Cooking a Turkey

Well.........this year we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house, and to this day I have NEVER cooked a turkey before.. YIKES!!! Any pointers would be most appreciated. Do you cook your stuffing in the turkey or separate? My mom always seemed to cook hers in the turkey.
What do you serve for Thanksgiving?
I was thinking turkey, of course, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (not yams), glazed carrots, cranberry salad(Jan's recipe), green bean casserole, and rolls. Any other thoughts on that?
Hope you all have a great week, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on Turkey.
Thanks.

Getting ready for Grandma Walle

Today was partly spent cleaning and rearranging the room downstairs in preparation for Gma Walle (Jeff's mom) to come and be with us for Thanksgiving. She is coming this Friday (Nov. 21st) We are excited to have her be able to come and join with us in celebrating this holiday. Jeff & the girls will be off the Friday after t-day, so we will have that extra day to spend with her. She won't be returning home until Monday 12/1. I enjoy having her come and stay with us. We haven't seen her in awhile so it will be nice to have the extra time with her.

I also did laundry and had the girls help pick up the family room downstairs. I made time to finish a book I was reading as well. All in all a pretty good day.

Tomorrow will bring more excitement and fun, I am sure. I would like to go to the temple, I will see if I can make that work. We shall see.